Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif Monday wrote a letter to Speaker Asad Qaiser for removing Nilofar Bakhtiar from the post of National Commission on Status of Women (NCSW) chairperson.

According to the 24News HD TV channel, the opposition leader called unlawful the posting of former federal minister to the commission as its chief.

It is a sheer violation of the parliamentary rules, traditions, law and the democratic values by the ruling party, the letter states. The PML-N president added Fauzia Viqar, the opposition parties' joint candidate, bagged six votes in polls held by the parliamentary committee that met with Falak Naz in the chair on June 28.

He added that Falak Naz 'unnecessarily and illegally' cast her vote in favour of Nelofar Bakhtiar and announced the latter's became the commission chief though she got just five. Dr Nafisa Shah, Dr Ayesha Ghous Pasha, Tahira Aurangzeb,  Shahida Akhtar Ali,  Nuzhat Sadiq and  Abida Muhammad Azeem voted in favour of Fauzia Viqar, the letter added.

The PML-N president said the 'illegal' appointment was a matter of great concern and it was very unfortunate that Fauzia was not appointed to the post despite getting a majority in the election. The Opposition leader added the parliamentarians had already brought the matter to his notice demanding minutes of proceedings of the MP body meeting but to no avail.

The opposition leader urged the NA speaker to reply to his letter and provided minutes of the committee meeting. For two year, the body remainedwas withut its head body remained headless for two years. The six opposition members also wrote to NA speaker for undoing the appointment. 

A couple days ago, the government notified the Nilofar's posting to the commission as its chairperson for three years.  Ex-minister is the central joint secretary PTI. In a tweet, the PPP's Nafisa Shah called it unlawful, saying Fauzia beat Nilofar in election. Nuzhat Sadiq said this was a blatant violation of the parliamentary committee’s decision. 

Reporter: Awais Kiyani